Roland Martin: ‘Democrats Have Got To Stop Being Scared of White People in the Southern States’

EXCERPT:

MARTIN: “Well, first of all, as reporters, our job is to actually report on what is reality and, so, frankly, we shouldn’t be saying it is uncomfortable. It is a reality. I was in Mississippi Sunday. Came back on Wednesday. And the reality is, there's no other state in America where you had such a stark contrast between white and black. Anybody who saw the debate Tuesday night between Mike Espy and Cindy Hyde-Smith, she pretty much read from this huge stack of notes and could barely say her name without reading it. All she kept saying was Second Amendment, conservative values, Donald Trump. But she wasn’t addressing the actual issues. Health care is an issue. But, see, this goes beyond the issue of race. It’s also, frankly, Ali, Democrats have got to stop being scared of white people. Let me be real clear. Let me say this again. Democrats have got to stop being scared of white people in the southern states. Democrats go, oh my God, we can’t win Alabama or Mississippi, but they have to be frank with white people. They have to say to Mississippi, there are 300,000 people in Mississippi who do not have health care. So, Mike Espy is hitting her hard on pre-existing conditions. The Affordable Care Act. Democrats only want to focus if we could get some young voters and Progressive voters. No, you have to tell broke, white people you’re broke. If you guys want to keep voting for your guns, go right ahead, but your health care is jacked up. Your education is jacked up. Your economics are jacked up. So, I really hope that Democrats get the message. They have to go into the south and go into these poor areas and not just talk to black voters, but talk frank to white voters and say, will you vote your economic interest?”